Inexperienced player - HC Barb build questions

Hello,

This is my first character ever in d2(r), to be precise, the first one to have progressed after act 1 normal (the previous one was over 20 years ago). So I am definitely inexperienced.

Moving on, I chose to try a HC character. I play on PS5, so I thought I'd give myself a serious challenge, of reaching, someday, level 99 HC for the relevant trophies. I play online because we also play together with my gf, so I play sometimes solo, sometimes duo. Gf plays a bowazon.

I am currently in nightmare and I am really taking my time (lvl 70) , in order to farm the equipment I think I need in order to move on to hell difficulty.

I play a

Concentrate sword and shield barbarian. I have maxed out

Concentrate,

Battle Orders, and have spread some one pointers around, before working to max out

Blade Mastery (currently at 15 pts) , and eventually

Shout (currently at 7 pts)

So, about the plan:

The plan is to enter hell and dwell in the pit until I drop good enough gear (or drop good enough gear to trade for gear I want) to move on to the other acts, finish the game once, and then farm terrorized no further than act 2. Until level 99. I plan on entering hell at least level 75 (I have traded for a torch, which I aim to use).

The question:

Is the following gear good enough for a pit dweller in HC?

Headstriker (as soon as I find a

Pul rune I aim to upgrade it) socketed with a

Shael.

Shaftstop, socketed with a

Sol

Moser's Blessed Circle with

Sol or

Perfect Diamond - depending on the rest of the charms (I only play with 75% all res, aiming for as much overcap as I can). Always max block as well.

Vampire Gaze socketed with a

Sol

String of Ears

Raven Frost ring

Dwarf Star ring

The Cat's Eye amulet

Laying of Hands

Goblin Toe/

Gore Rider/

War Traveler depending on availability and comfort, when in the pit.

And then plugging holes as needed with charms.

I believe the above is farmable in Nightmare (I am not in any hurry to enter hell in any case)

So, what do you think?

-the gear is NM doable, even hell - able
-a fervor jewel in you armour /

Helm to reach 75 ias
-1 point in

Berserk
-double spirits on switch for BO?

krathkor wrote: 16 hours ago

-the gear is NM doable, even hell - able
-a fervor jewel in you armour /

Helm to reach 75 ias
-1 point in

Berserk
-double spirits on switch for BO?

Thanks for answering.

I already have put a point in

Berserk. Am I expecting many phys immunes in the pit?

Are fervor jewels dropable in nm?

At the moment I have two Ali babas on switch, for better odds at finding things, and since I always keep a full inventory (of charms) I have no idea where to place double spirits. (Also I 'll have to make them, because I didn't count on using them untill now).

But it definitely sounds solid. Do two spirits stack?

you're right, no PIs in the pit. the spirits are only if you want +4 to your warcries instead of MF.

fervor jewels are affix lvl 39 so thy can drop in NM, but plain ones are cheap...

also

The Reaper's Toll for your merc, low roll also cheap

Make sure you have a Lawbringer or 1 point in

Berserk. Regardless Lawbringer is preferable, it'll make a world of difference for undead PIs.

Make sure you have 1 point in

Howl at very least. Howling away the White trash to snipe the elite or just save your own skin is a good strategy and

Howl also synergizes

Berserk (+10% damage to

Berserk, very strong synergy as these things go).

1 point in

Grim Ward can also break PIs and lowers damage resist for all monsters within range. Pop Grim Wards in tight spaces/corridors and let loose with

Frenzy or

Double Swing to shred monsters.

Non-undead PIs (read:

Blood Lord and certain

Death Mauler variants in Act 5) will be a great deal more dangerous than undead PIs. Without

Bone Break, you're gonna be cooked against some elite groups of these, especially if they come up with something ridiculous like Extra Fast + Stone Skin + Might/Fana Aura. Save and Exit or find a way to skip past them on HC until you can get

Bone Break + source of Decrep/Amp dmg, especially because

Blood Lord / Death Lord with Stone Skin will be well over 120% damage resist, hence untouchable with Decrep/Amp dmg alone.

Probably a few more but thats just off top of my head here. Ive finished HC with several

Frenzy/Zerker barb builds and thats what has worked for me.

NestorasMaXno wrote: 16 hours ago

krathkor wrote: 16 hours ago

-the gear is NM doable, even hell - able
-a fervor jewel in you armour /

Helm to reach 75 ias
-1 point in

Berserk
-double spirits on switch for BO?

Thanks for answering.

I already have put a point in

Berserk. Am I expecting many phys immunes in the pit?

Are fervor jewels dropable in nm?

At the moment I have two Ali babas on switch, for better odds at finding things, and since I always keep a full inventory (of charms) I have no idea where to place double spirits. (Also I 'll have to make them, because I didn't count on using them untill now).

But it definitely sounds solid. Do two spirits stack?

Undead PIs in Forgotten Tower, Jail,

Barracks, Arcane,

Tal Rasha's tombs, WSK. And most undead have 50% DR in hell. Lawbringer is a lifesaver when it comes to this, particularly because Unravelers and certain

Zombie variants also have magic immunity hence untouchable with

Berserk.

2 spirits on swap will stack yes. Its a good option until you can get dual HoTos. Use dual Spirits for casting BO buffs and if you eventually get Enigma, dual Spirits or dual HoTos can get you near the 105 FCR breakpoint for teleporting which adds alot of QoL.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer.

I believe I should switch to

Dracul's Grasp as soon as possible (and also rethink a bit the offensive setup, hopefully cb could carry me for a while) , because I think that skellies and other similar things which block life leech may pose a serious threat. Am I thinking this correctly?

The thing is that I am fairly certain that I need some really really good gear to proceed with any safety in later acts. And this is why I aim to spend a great deal of time in the pit, and hope for the best.

Am I thinking this correctly (if the priority is maximum safety) ? Can this approach work?

And thanks for the lawbrjnger recommendation, I have missed that. I think I have focused mainly on layering defenses and neglected to check about actually clearing things.

NestorasMaXno wrote: 5 hours ago

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer.

I believe I should switch to

Dracul's Grasp as soon as possible (and also rethink a bit the offensive setup, hopefully cb could carry me for a while) , because I think that skellies and other similar things which block life leech may pose a serious threat. Am I thinking this correctly?

The thing is that I am fairly certain that I need some really really good gear to proceed with any safety in later acts. And this is why I aim to spend a great deal of time in the pit, and hope for the best.

Am I thinking this correctly (if the priority is maximum safety) ? Can this approach work?

For barbarian

Laying of Hands is usually superior to Drac's. Drac's is generally BiS for smiter because the 350% ED to demons does not apply to

Smite and because paladins have a way easier time hitting max attack speed breakpoints than barbarian. If you're a paladin with max

Fanaticism wielding any

Phase Blade base, all you need is 10% IAS to hit the max 6 frame

Smite breakpoint. Grief accomplishes this almost 3x over, and even with a 0% IAS such as Death or Last Wish, 10% is not hard at all to obtain somewhere. This is also why CoH (IMO) is not as good as Fortitude or

Guardian Angel for this use case.

Barbarian by contrast almost need all the attack speed (and AR) they can possibly get, and will reap the benefit of the 350% ED to demons. Drac's still might be better for Ubers specifically, but not always. In such a case you'll likely need to make up for the 20% IAS from swapping out LoH in order to hit the max

Frenzy break point. In most other cases besides Ubers, LoH is superior.

BigD wrote: 4 hours ago

NestorasMaXno wrote: 5 hours ago

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer.

I believe I should switch to

Dracul's Grasp as soon as possible (and also rethink a bit the offensive setup, hopefully cb could carry me for a while) , because I think that skellies and other similar things which block life leech may pose a serious threat. Am I thinking this correctly?

The thing is that I am fairly certain that I need some really really good gear to proceed with any safety in later acts. And this is why I aim to spend a great deal of time in the pit, and hope for the best.

Am I thinking this correctly (if the priority is maximum safety) ? Can this approach work?

For barbarian

Laying of Hands is usually superior to Drac's. Drac's is generally BiS for smiter because the 350% ED to demons does not apply to

Smite and because paladins have a way easier time hitting max attack speed breakpoints than barbarian. If you're a paladin with max

Fanaticism wielding any

Phase Blade base, all you need is 10% IAS to hit the max 6 frame

Smite breakpoint. Grief accomplishes this almost 3x over, and even with a 0% IAS such as Death or Last Wish, 10% is not hard at all to obtain somewhere. This is also why CoH (IMO) is not as good as Fortitude or

Guardian Angel for this use case.

Barbarian by contrast almost need all the attack speed (and AR) they can possibly get, and will reap the benefit of the 350% ED to demons. Drac's still might be better for Ubers specifically, but not always. In such a case you'll likely need to make up for the 20% IAS from swapping out LoH in order to hit the max

Frenzy break point. In most other cases besides Ubers, LoH is superior.

Thank you for answering.

Ubers is definitely out of my plans for the time being.

So what about life leech against leech resistant monsters, or leech blocking monster s?

I am running a triple healing aura merc already (a nice person dropped me the Cure

Helm off ladder) but this doesn't feel sufficient, in the absence of life leech.

I believe it's rather obvious that - being a noob - (both in d2 and HC d2) I focus almost exclusively on defenses. I enjoy that, coming from the true successor of d2 PoE. But the "no mistakes" issue of HC, makes me very careful in both my engagement with higher difficulty content and the approach to the build.

So LoH it is then. Thank you.

On the original post's item configuration:

Would you do anything differently (besides not playing this class and this main skill ) ? Could I improve anything by switching items (that can drop up to NM ? )

I mainly talking about drops because it's rather difficult finding trades for PS5.

I have a different question - are there any items that are on your wishlist but which you don't expect to be able to find/make on your own or trade for? I might have some spare items on HC NL, and even though I play mainly on PC, I do have the game on PS5 as well. You could send it to me via dm if you prefer.

Forget spirits, you can shop "BO sticks" (one hand weapons with +3 warcries) at

Anya in NM at your level.

https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=70126677&f=87

I'd also recommend to first play SC, esp. when playing with 2 people. It really sucks if one of you dies. You won't know what's dangerous and then you are dead.

ShadowHeart wrote: 2 hours ago

I have a different question - are there any items that are on your wishlist but which you don't expect to be able to find/make on your own or trade for? I might have some spare items on HC NL, and even though I play mainly on PC, I do have the game on PS5 as well. You could send it to me via dm if you prefer.

Wow.

That would be great.

But...

Accepting this exceptionally generous offer might lead to the conclusion that I opened the thread to do exactly that. I didn't, promise.

I am very grateful, but I must respectfully decline.

You are a super great person for offering to help though. I really do mean that, sincerely.

I wouldn't object trading fairly with you though. I have been amassing pgems for a while now. I don't know if this would cover expenses , but I can try. I really am a clueless noob. I have really almost no idea about trading. (In PoE I haven't traded anything, I'm very "proud" of reaching 100 level , and just a couple of trophies away from the platinum trophy, only playing "quasi-ssf" , gf dropped the game a while ago. On the other hand ,it's easier when you're allowed to learn from dying. Oh well).

Would you allow me to contact you if I feel I have hit a wall in my progress, later on?

Again, thanks for being a super great person.

vued wrote: 1 hour ago

Forget spirits, you can shop "BO sticks" (one hand weapons with +3 warcries) at

Anya in NM at your level.

https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=70126677&f=87

I'd also recommend to first play SC, esp. when playing with 2 people. It really sucks if one of you dies. You won't know what's dangerous and then you are dead.

You are probably, correct, but I wanted to see if I could do it.

Let's see.

About the two person thing, you are right, and this is why I chose this build. To be able to protect as much as possible the 2nd person.

Thank you very much for the advice!

NestorasMaXno wrote: 3 hours ago

On the original post's item configuration:

Would you do anything differently (besides not playing this class and this main skill ) ? Could I improve anything by switching items (that can drop up to NM ? )

I mainly talking about drops because it's rather difficult finding trades for PS5.

Barbarian IMO feels kind of a waste not to dual wield since they're the only class able to do so. Also IIRC their attack speed is always better with 2 weapons vs 1 weapon + shield.

In terms of stuff that can drop in NM, 2 x Strength

Cutlass or 2 x Black

Knout are combos I've used before with

Frenzy Barb that shredded NM, but lose effectiveness after Hell. Hustle + Lawbringer dual Legend Swords is one combo I also used that was not bad through Act 1 and 2 Hell.

By Act 3 Hell you should be able to obtain

Lo+

Mal to make Grief by spamming LK super chests and some Countess (she drops

Mal through

Ist though not often). If not through trading anyways.

Being a console player as well i hear ya on the market being dead compared to PC, but lobby trades can be made fairly often. Save your PAmethysts and enough of them can trade for an

Ist eventually, and from there you may eventually be able to trade for a Grief (preferably PB but for barb

Colossus Sword also works).

Eth Death

Colossus Sword or

Zweihander is also an option, but for those will need to make up alot of IAS vs Grief.

Also,

Wand of

Life Tap on Weapon Swap for tough spots can be a life saver.